Wednesday, March 9, 2011

More cat/dog clicker training

I am continuing with Thunder’s training. Since we didn’t get to do it when we first got the dog, we are mostly reviewing his old tricks to get him where he was pre-Maggie.




I put Maggie outside so I could train Thunder last night. I did some simple targeting. I couldn’t get him to load into his “trailer” at all. (It is a very narrow box with an opening on one side.) He just wants to rub his face on the corners. He used to load very well—and then hop out over the front. I did get him to jump his jump, once.



We then went to hopping to and from his scratching post. After doing a single jump from his square pedestal, we moved up to going from his round pedestal, to his scratching post to land on his square pedestal—all for one click. He also did the reverse very willingly. I just tap with the target toy where I want to go, and he goes in a straight line to get there. If his scratching post is in the way, he uses that to get there. We used to do this with a bunch of boxes all in a row. I’m glad he remembered.



He is getting great at sitting up. He is now lifting both paws up consistently.



I need to make him a new hoop to jump through. I don’t know what happened to his old one. I just cut it out of cardboard.



Finally, he got distracted with exploring some of his boxes, and we quit.


I got the dog in for her training. She is improving standing up and getting consistent with target frisbee. I just wish she would figure out to pick it up and bring it to me. If I hand it to her, she will put it in her mouth, but won’t hold it any length of time.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't know how I've missed your blog - thanks for stopping by and commenting so I found you.

Rising Rainbow said...

I didn't know you could train cats with clicker training too. Very interesting.

Achieve1dream said...

Silly Thunder. Don't worry, you'll get back to where you were in no time. I'm always amazed at how quickly my critters remember everything after a break. :)

It takes patience to teach duration of holding items to dogs. I still haven't managed to do it with Jackal. He will sometimes pick things up for me, but not often (we're working on his leash for his March trick). He'll play fetch with his ball, but he won't hold random things. I sometimes wonder if I just don't have the patience to teach a "hold". I prefer active behaviors. :) Good luck!